Anaheim tried to snag Halladay this summer and probably tied the Philadelphia Phillies for being the closest to getting a deal done. But former J.P. Ricciardi drove too hard a bargain for both of those teams and so they went without and did pretty well anyway.

The word is that Anaheim will need to give up a slew of prospects along with one of three pitchers -- Jered Weaver(notes), Ervin Santana(notes), or Joe Saunders(notes) - to get the Blue Jays to open that little window for the Angels to negotiate an extension with the 32-year-old Halladay and finish off the trade.

Halladay has supposedly informed the Blue Jays that he isn't going to re-sign after next season.

But that low price and high production are also making the Rangers loathe to trade Cruz. So the fella who became an All-Star for the first time this year is very likely to be back in the Texas Rangers outfield next year.

Some teams that are believed to be interested include the Atlanta Braves, St. Louis Cardinals, and San Francisco Giants.

The 33-year-old lefty is benefiting from there not being a whole lot of other strong pitching on the market right now. He had a 3.23 ERA, 1.10 WHIP, and 129 strikeouts in 214.1 innings this year. Lackey pitched fewer innings (176.1) and had a higher ERA (3.83).

More than half the teams in Major League Baseball are supposedly trying to get him.

The word is that the Angels like Granderson more simply because his contract runs through 2012 and has a $13 million option for 2013 while Jackson's only goes till the end of 2011.

The Angels are supposedly good potential trading partners with Detroit because the three areas of depth - catcher, low-paying pitching, and shortstop - are what the Tigers need.

In 2009, center fielder Granderson hit 30 homers, had 71 RBIs, FOXSports, 91 runs scored, and 157 hits.

The 36-year-old Damon is apparently thinking that he would like a three- or four-year deal and the Yankees supposedly only want to give him a two-year deal. The 2010 salary is still being finalized for the Yanks but it is believed that the team's priorities are to bring back Damon and Andy Pettitte(notes).

The Daily News reports that Damon told friends earlier this year that he would accept a shorter deal from the Yanks but then his annual salary would have to go up.

The Daily News reports that the Mets only have $20 million to spend this off-season.

While the Mets are sure to reduce the $147 payroll it had last season, which would allow for more than $20 million to be spent on free agents, it is believed that there is no way the Mets can compete in the free-agent bidding wars that will take place for Lackey, Matt Holliday(notes), and Jason Bay(notes).

So Sheets and Jason Marquis(notes) are apparently the two pitchers that the team is focused on snagging

The word is that the Red Sox will pay half of the 35-year-old Lowell's $12 million salary next season to anybody who will take him.

Lowell hasn't played more than 120 games in the last two years so if anybody takes him, they better have a decent backup.

If the Sox can get Adrian Gonzalez(notes) from the San Diego Padres, he'll be playing first and Kevin Youkilis(notes) will be moved to third. Otherwise, Boston will be bidding for the likes of Adrian Beltre(notes), Placido Polanco(notes), Chone Figgins(notes), and a bunch of others, though Beltre is believed to be the one of most interest to the Sox.

It isn't clear which one it is but the San Francisco Giants are the most likely team since it needs someone to hold the spot till top prospect Buster Posey(notes) is ready to fill it.

The Rockies have also supposedly given a call to the agent for Brian Schneider(notes) just in case Torrealba doesn't end up back in Denver.

Bay apparently has an "unbelievable" number of teams making calls for him, says his (totally unbiased) agent. Bay, Matt Holliday(notes), and John Lackey(notes) will be the three biggest free agents on the market this off-season but Bay seems to be the most accessible of the three to more clubs.

Bay reportedly wants a five-year deal worth $17 million annually and supposedly declined a four-year, $60 million proposal on the table from the Red Sox. Now he's waiting to see what kind of dollars and years will be offered by such clubs as the New York Mets, St. Louis Cardinals, Toronto Blue Jays, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, and Seattle Mariners.

And, of course, the Red Sox will keep a watchful eye over the proceedings and try to get back in at an opportune moment.

However, an exec on the team has apparently told the New York Post that Swisher isn't going anywhere and the Yankees are very happy with having him out in right field.

So now Swisher can just go ahead and relax and get that tattoo he was planning to get this winter to honor his departed grandfather that will match the one that he has on his chest in honor of his grandmother. The pair basically raised him after his folks got divorced.

For that reason, Sabean isn't even going to extend any kind of offer to either one of the top offensive free agents on the market this year now that any team can make offers to any free agents. Sabean is saying that he doesn't want to be a "stalking horse" this off-season and get used as a negotiating tool for these players with other clubs.

So Sabean says the Giants will be focusing on so-called second-tier players to fill out the batting order and bullpen. That terminology sure is going to make those players feel good about themselves, too.

Lo Duca told the satellite radio station that he's completely healthy and everything he's had surgery on (hamstring, knee) feels perfect. "I want to go back in it full bore and [do] whatever needs to be done," he said. "I want to play on a team that wants to win and wants a player that wants to win. I'll do whatever I need to do. If it's come off the bench, if it's spot starts, I'll do whatever they need me to do."

The 5'9" 36-year-old who has a .286 career average and popped only 80 homers in his ten years in the league isn't expecting to be the starting catcher for anybody. "I really feel like I can offer a good bat off the bench to somebody and do whatever needs to be done," he said.

Guess he was getting bored as a horse-racing analyst for the TVG Network.

Washburn apparently is interested in signing with the Brewers or the Minnesota Twins so he can finish out his career not far from home, according to the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel.

The Brewers are also apparently looking at pitchers Doug Davis(notes), Randy Wolf(notes) and Mark Mulder(notes). Mulder apparently wants to get back together again with pitching coach Rick Peterson.

But Hicks, who has owned the team for more than a decade, has apparently collected a large number of local investors that will help him maintain his majority ownership. Staubach is reportedly one of those folks.

Current club president Nolan Ryan also said he would be part of that group. Ryan is hedging his bets since he has also been working with prospective owner Chuck Greenberg.

Bids for the club are still due on Friday so get your pals together tonight and give Hicks a call before the weekend.

Halladay only has one year left on his contract but the Blue Jays let it be known the other day that whatever team is interested in Halladay and makes the best offer will get a time window to try and get Halladay signed to an extension. And the Yankees are, of course, one of a small bunch of teams that can offer Halladay massive bucks over a long term.

It is believed that the Blue Jays would like a package of players from the Yankees that would include Phil Hughes(notes) or Joba Chamberlain(notes). Toronto's last GM, J.P. Ricciardi tried to get the Yanks to trade him both of these guys for Halladay and that went nowhere.

"Leaving my options open," the 36-year-old righty said. "At this moment, no, I'm not thinking about pitching anymore. Down the road, I'm not sure. Initially, I'd say no way. I'm not planning on playing at this moment. In my mind, I retired when I left in August."

He only had 10 starts for the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2009, going 3-6 with a 6.02 ERA. It's an unfortunate way to finish off a career in which he has a 130-96 record, 3.96 ERA and 1,758 strikeouts.

Mauer has another year on his contract but the team would love to get an extension signed as soon as possible. The addition of Hardy may help their cause since he is one of Mauer's biggest buddies in baseball. The pair apparently became pals when they were teammates on the U.S. Junior National team.

The 26-year-old Mauer could supposedly get around $25 million annually on the open market.

The Nats want to change their perception and going after Lackey will certainly help just as the team's pursuit of Mark Teixeira(notes) last off-season started to turn that dial.

Going after Lackey is one thing but getting him would help a whole lot more on the perception front. If the Nats can get him, they'd expect him to also help mentor the rest of the young staff, such as Stephen Strasburg(notes), Ross Detwiler(notes), and John Lannan(notes). Lackey would surely help bring the team's National League-worst ERA of 5.00 down.

But of course everybody else wants Lackey, too, so it remains doubtful that he'll end up in D.C. Another person who also isn't likely to end up in the District is shortstop Adam Everett(notes), who has been linked to the Nats numerous times this off-season already. The team supposedly has no interest in the defensive specialist.

Ricciardi is no longer GM and the new guy, Alex Anthopoulos, is reportedly shifting things around. He is supposedly ready to give other teams a short time window to let them try to negotiate an extension with Halladay if a trade were to get that far, according to MLB.com.

Halladay has one year left on his current contract and it's looking pretty good right now that he won't be wearing a Blue Jays uniform during that time.

There's a rumor floating around that the team (along with the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees) is waiting to throw more than $100 million at outfielder Matt Holliday(notes), who hit .313 with 24 home runs and 109 runs batted in for the Oakland Athletics and St. Louis Cardinals this past season. But GM Tony Reagins is saying that no such thing is true. "Our focus is not on him right now."

It is extremely doubtful that Reagins will get Figgins or Lackey to sign anything before Friday. Both are highly coveted on the free-agent market and would likely get paid to play more elsewhere. "They have earned the right to see what their value is," Reagins said.

Lackey supposedly wants to sign a deal worth more than $100 million and has interest from the Seattle Mariners, Milwaukee Brewers, Boston Red Sox, New York Mets, and New York Yankees. Figgins is likely to sign a deal for half of that and his suitors supposedly include the Philadelphia Phillies, New York Mets, Chicago White Sox, and Chicago Cubs.

Supposedly, the White Sox would send Konerko and prospects to San Diego for Adrian Gonzalez. Then San Diego would trade Konerko to Anaheim and give San Diego more prospects.

The 27-year-old left-handed batter Gonzalez is coveted by more than a few teams (40 homers, 99 RBIs, and a .407 on-base percentage will do that for you) so the Padres would have to be receiving some stellar prospects in the deal.

Anaheim loses exclusive negotiating rights to Lackey this Friday and, according to the Sporting News, the New York Mets, Milwaukee Brewers, and Boston Red Sox have all apparently started checking their wallets to see what they've got in there to flash at the 31-year-old. All three of those clubs have supposedly talked to Lackey's agent already. The New York Yankees and Seattle Mariners are expected to get into the fray pretty soon as well.

The main concern for most teams is Lackey's stamina. In the past two years, he's made 24 and 27 starts and had different arm injuries both years. The 6'6", 245-pounder went 11-8 this year with a 3.43 ERA and 139 strikeouts in 176.1 innings.

The offense of the Rangers was significantly lower this past season than in 2008 and the team wants to boost those numbers. There have been rumors that one route toward regaining that would be to bring Milton Bradley(notes) back to the team via trade with the Chicago Cubs. But they could also up their numbers with the addition of the 34-year-old Guerrero. After all, the guy has a .394 average in 50 games at the ballpark in Arlington.

The Rangers apparently have some money woes (don't we all?) so that could make things difficult to bring Guerrero onboard. He may currently be looking to get the kind of dough Bobby Abreu(notes) got from the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim: $19 million over two years. But it is apparently more likely that he'll end up with a one-year deal worth somewhere between $3 million and $5 million. Nothing to sneeze at.

The 28-year-old hit .250 last season and only had 10 homers and 38 RBI in 280 at-bats. Unfortunately, he missed a lot of games last year, which doesn't help his sale value. Whoever takes him on will owe him $3.5 million next year and $5.1 million in 2011. He could end up being moved to first base or the outfield if he is moved.

The San Francisco Giants, Seattle Mariners, and Tampa Bay Rays are all supposedly places that Doumit could land.

Harden spent five years in the American League West with the Oakland Athletics and is apparently interested in returning to the division. The Mariners would like to provide some support in the rotation to young ace Felix Hernandez(notes) and Harden would be just the trick. After all, the 27-year-old went 9-9 last year with a 4.09 ERA.

It is rumored that Harden doesn't have much interest in returning to Chicago since he supposedly felt overused and suffered from some poor defensive play by Alfonso Soriano(notes) and Milton Bradley(notes).

The Globe reports that a Japanese sports Web site is saying that the Red Sox would love to have free-agent Matsui come to their team. According to the Japanese site, Nikkan Sports, the Red Sox are ready to offer a multi-year deal to the 35-year-old designated hitter.

Matsui has made about $13 million a year for each of the last four, but he is apparently ready to lower his price for his next deal to $8 million annually. Couldn't be cheaper, right?

There is plenty of doubt in Boston that this story has any truth to it, but it's always fun when a Yankees or Red Sox player switches sides.

Of course Hendry also needs to get rid of an outfielder who want be easy to get rid of: Milton Bradley(notes). The rumor is that the Cubs are interested in the Texas Rangers' Marlon Byrd(notes) and that it is possible that the Detroit Tigers might put Curtis Granderson(notes) on the market, which would be another prime target for Chicago.

Hendry could likely sign Byrd without dealing Bradley but Granderson has $25.75 million owed to him over the next three years so Hendry would have to clear up some salary space and he wouldn't likely be able to do that by trading Bradley to Detroit. Tigers manager Jim Leyland flipped his lid last summer when it was so much as suggested that Bradley might be coming to the Motor City via trade.

The Cubs' 2010 payroll is expected to go up to $145 million, more than anybody else in the National League Central.

Talks have supposedly started with the catcher's reps already. "Everything in time ... it'll work out - I hope, and I'm pretty sure," said Bell. "I feel good about it because I think he wants to stay here and we sure want him to be here, and all of his teammates want him to be here."

The 26-year-old is expected to be named the American League's most valuable player, which will drive his price upward, obviously. It is thought that Mauer could get $25 million annually on the open market.

Rumor has it that Boras is comparing Damon to Derek Jeter(notes), according to the New York Post, and wants his client to get a three- or four-year deal for more than the $13 million per year he just made with the team for the last four years.

The Yankees are apparently not ready to shell out that kind of dough for Damon so he may be headed out of the South Bronx for good pretty soon.

But the Sox are apparently ready to make an offer to Matt Holliday(notes) if Bay shows any resistance or doesn't want to sign for some reason.

Of course Holliday will be looking for more dough than Bay can get, especially since he is represented by Scott Boras, who has a way of making teams separate themselves from their cash.

Along with Jimmy Rollins(notes) and Shane Victorino(notes), that would give the Phils three leadoff-type hitters. Perhaps the team has some triple-steals in its future?

Meanwhile, the team has been rumored to be in the hunt still to bring in Roy Halladay(notes) via trade with the Toronto Blue Jays but MLB.com is reporting that that scenario isn't highly likely. The team still doesn't want to give up all the talent that it wouldn't give up in July when talks broke down with Toronto just before the trading deadline.

One person that definitely won't be involved in that trade is former team ace Cole Hamels(notes), according to the Philadelphia Inquirer. There's a rumor floating around that pretty-boy Hamels, who had a relatively crummy 2009 for the team but GM Ruben Amaro Jr. says he is sticking with Hamels in 2010: "We have no thoughts of trading Cole Hamels," Amaro said. "I don't know where those rumors are coming from, but that's exactly what they are. Cole Hamels is our pitcher and we're keeping him, and I'm glad to have him."

Amaro apparently expects Hamels to bounce back next year. Phillies fans sure hope so because Amaro doesn't want to add a whole lot to the payroll, which is another indicator that Halladay isn't likely to come to Philly: "Our payroll is not a bottomless pit. There are limits. If I can't put together a championship-caliber club at $140 million, then that's my fault," Amaro said.

The two sides are still talking about a potential deal and Cubs GM Jim Hendry apparently would like to get an agreement before the winter meetings that start Dec. 7.

Bradley, of course, left the Rangers at the start of last year when he took the Cubs' three-year, $30 million deal over the offer of $6 million for one year from the Rangers.

Two other possible destinations for Bradley are apparently the New York Mets and Tampa Bay Rays. Hendry would reportedly love to get his hands on Mets second baseman Luis Castillo(notes) who has two years and $12 million left on his contract. Mets ownership, though, apparently isn't hugely interested in bringing in Bradley.

The Rays also tried to get Bradley last off-season so Hendry is hoping they've still got some interest.

The Reds shelled out $71 million for its players this past season and the rumor is that the team needs to bring that down to around $65 million. Reds GM Walt Jocketty isn't hiding this fact, either: "We're going to probably have less to spend this year than we have in the past," he said. "It just depends on how [ticket] sales go this off-season."

Attendance at the Great American Ballpark dropped by more than 15 percent from 2008 to 2009. The candidates to get chucked over the side in Cincinnati appear to be second baseman Brandon Phillips(notes), who will make a little less than $7 million next year; pitcher Aaron Harang(notes), who makes $12.5 million next year; and pitcher Bronson Arroyo(notes), who will make $12.25 million next season.

Financial hard times of the region, in particular the massive hit automakers have taken, have the Tigers considering some trades of their bigger names and Jackson seems to be the first one on the list that they'll look into ditching for younger, cheaper players.

"We're all aware that the economy is not the same all over the country," said Detroit GM Dave Dombrowski. "We've been hit hard in our area."

Pineiro has spent the last three years with the St. Louis Cardinals and won 15 games last year with a 3.49 ERA. The problem is that the 10-year vet wants more dough than the Mets really want to shell out right about now. He'll supposedly be looking for $30 million over three year.

It's also thought the team has some interest in free-agent pitcher but isn't hot to join in any bidding for the biggest pitching free-agent this off-season: John Lackey(notes). Somebody is watching their nickels a little more than they used to.

But Mariners GM Jack Zduriencik is trying to head off at the pass the huge amount of speculation that will be heaped upon Hernandez this off-season by telling reporters Monday that the Mariners aren't planning to ditch Hernandez any time soon, according to the New York Daily News. The team has been following him since he was just a 14-year-old lad in Venezuela.

After all, who would give up a 23-year-old with a 100-mph fastball who had a 2.49 ERA, a 1.14 WHIP, and 19 wins this past season?

Now it appears that the Phils are right back in the hunt for Halladay, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer. Halladay just has one year left on his contract and the folks in Philadelphia would like him to spend it wearing red and white.

Blue Jays general manager Alex Anthopoulos is ready to listen to offers for the 32-year-old Halladay, who ended up with 17 wins, a 2.79 ERA, and 208 strikeouts in 239 innings pitched.

"Philadelphia is into winning now, and Halladay fits that," said a front-office worker of a rival to the Phillies.

Not bad for a guy the Yankees dumped back in 2004 after he gave up a grand slam to Johnny Damon(notes) in that famous American League Championship Series against the Boston Red Sox.

Vazquez is in a little better spot these days and it appears that the Braves are going to try and get him signed to a contract extension this off-season, according to the Atlanta Journal Constitution. With the year he had, Vazquez would likely be looking for some big dollars.

Hendry is saying that he isn't giving up on the idea of Bradley as a Cub, which must mean he hasn't gotten a lot of good trade offers. Hendry practically urges folks to treat Bradley as if he's still with the Cubs (since he is and may continue to be).

"Other people have had some major hiccups along the way and come back," Hendry said, "and that's just how you have to look at it. He's on your roster until proven differently. That's how we go about it."

You'd be disgruntled too if your name was Milton Bradley. His father supposedly really wanted a junior and filled out his son's birth certificate without showing it to his mother at all. Very smooth move.

Cuban, who tried to buy the Chicago Cubs, tells the paper there is no substance to the story. And the Dodgers aren't even for sale.

According to the paper, "Cuban has said repeatedly in recent months that he has no interest in adding any sports franchises to his business portfolio." It would really have to be some kind of special situation for him to want the Dodgers as part of his portfolio: "I'm not a fan of debt-driven acquisitions. If a unique situation came up where I could contribute capital to buy out a majority shareholder and gain control, with existing shareholders or note holders staying in place, I would consider it," he wrote.

He's basically suggesting that Halladay is back up on the trading block. The Jays won 75 games last year and Halladay wants to be playing for a better team right about now, according to the National Post: "I think he's stated that his timeline for winning and ours may not mesh and may not match for us right now," he said.

There aren't a lot of strong free-agent pitchers on the market this off-season so the demand should still be high for the 32-year-old Halladay who won 17 games last year and struck out 208. He's got only one year left on his contract and is owed $15.75 million.

Let the bidding begin.

Of course the team could still re-sign Feliz but GM Ruben Amaro Jr. and his gang will be looking into a few different options at third for 2010 that have a little more pop in their bats, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer: Adrian Beltre(notes), Chone Figgins(notes), and Mark DeRosa(notes).

Rumor has it the team could also try long-time shortstop Miguel Tejada(notes) at third. He's a free agent and is supposedly open to playing third base.

The Diamondbacks will apparently be leaning on Miguel Montero(notes) even more this season behind the plate. Arizona apparently has a great first-base prospect in Brandon Allen(notes) but the team doesn't want to bring him up just yet. Overbay will be an able placeholder if the deal goes through.

The 28-year-old Snyder would replace Rod Barajas(notes), who becomes a free agent this off-season.

There are really only three highly valuable free agents this off-season -- Jason Bay(notes), Matt Holliday(notes), and John Lackey(notes) - and the Yankees aren't expected to go after any of them, according to the New York Post.

It looks like the Yankees are closing up the wallet a little and letting a whole lot of money flow in right now instead of out.

The team may be at the point of no return on expenditures, anyway. The Yanks will spend $100 million next season Alex Rodriguez(notes), Sabathia, Teixeira and Derek Jeter(notes) alone and have another $70 million already committed to 13 other players from Kei Igawa(notes) to Juan Miranda(notes).

Holliday's agent, Scott Boras, apparently wants him to be paid around the same as Teixeira (eight years, $181 million), Lackey is expected to get around $100 million for five years, and Bay could get around $90 million for five years.

Red Sox fans have got to hope the 25-year-old outfielder can do better than hitting .259. He reportedly won't be expected to be an incredible defensive presence.

Contractually, Hermida has two years to show that Epstein's prediction was true.

It's looking like the team is going to buy him out for $1 million, which is still a nice payday for a guy who didn't play after mid-July due to knee surgery. The rumor is that the team will try to re-sign the 11-year vet after that.

Cincinnati GM Walt Jocketty has met with Hernandez's agent. "We've made some progress. I don't know if we're close. But we'll try to work something out," he said.

But that deal isn't apparently finished just yet, according to the Kansas City Star. And it might never be. As of midnight last night, none of the players had supposedly been informed of the trade.

"We're in discussions with a lot of clubs about a lot of things," Royals general manager Dayton Moore told the Star. "There is nothing to announce yet, and we won't comment (about trade rumors) until there is something to announce." Drat!

The New York Post is reporting that the team won't be picking up his $9.1 million option for next season. Why should it after he pitched only 29 1/3 innings and gave up 18 runs in the process. Not exactly what you want from a reliever, particularly one who was the centerpiece to a three-team deal that involved the Seattle Mariners and Cleveland Indians. We went through all that trouble for this?

Putz has a $1 million buyout clause. Mets GM Omar Minaya is sure to take it. And watch Putz take some kind of incentive-laden deal somewhere else.

General manager Brian Cashman has apparently been saying that he'd like the team to get younger and more athletic and more versatile (and you'd hope cheaper), so paying Matsui a load of dough to DH doesn't seem to fit that mold. Damon is at least out in the field.

Catcher Jorge Posada(notes) will turn 39 next season so he may want to DH some. Alex Rodriguez(notes) may be getting some hip surgery this off-season so this team isn't getting any younger. Though they sure looked like a bunch of 6-year-olds bouncing up and down after the last out last night.

So Yankees fans may want to spend a little extra time cheering for the Series MVP Matsui when he floats by during the parade. Word has it he could be moving to the Great Northwest to play for the Seattle Mariners.

And the Phils have him for the relatively cheap price of $9 million next year. But there have apparently been discussions within the organization of trying to get a long-term extension done this off-season, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer.

"Clearly, it's on our minds, but we haven't made a decision if we will yet," general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. said before Game 6.

While Lee was incredible in the postseason and pretty dang good in the regular season since joining the Phils, going 7-4 with a 3.39 ERA, one never knows what will happen so there are some in the organization who apparently want to wait and be sure Lee doesn't turn into the next Cole Hamels(notes), who was the MVP of last year's NLCS and World Series and then a disappointment during the regular season this year and even bigger one in the postseason.

Lee will likely want some kind of similar deal to the one his best friend and former teammate with the Cleveland Indians, CC Sabathia(notes), got last off-season from the New York Yankees: seven years for $161 million.

And now after all that the lefthander may be returning to play for Seattle, according to the Detroit Free Press. The 35-year-old free-agent lefty has apparently told the M's that Seattle is on the top of his list of teams to play for in 2010.

Washburn was a whole lot better for Seattle than he was for Detroit. He went 8-6 with a 2.64 ERA in 20 starts for the M's and was the American League pitcher of the month in July with Seattle.

Hernandez started off the season with the New York Mets and then got released with a 5.47 ERA and 135 innings under his belt. His ERA came down a whopping .11 when he pitched for Washington later in the year.

He does like to pitch and will stay in games, but he needs a lot of run support: In the last two years, he's pitched 363 2/3s innings and has a 5.74 ERA.

He'll make $12.1 million next year but is free to roam the streets of any city he wants after next season if a new deal can't be worked out.

It looks like Red Sox GM Theo Epstein is plenty aware of the big bucks it will take to retain Beckett: "He's put himself in a position to be valued very highly by us," he said to WEEI, but he wasn't predicting a definite deal: "Those things have a way of taking care of themselves. ... We'll see what happens."

Now it's looking like Hurdle may join the Texas Rangers as the hitting coach, according to MLB.com. Hurdle had the same job with the Rockies from 1997 to 2001. The Rockies were at the front of the National League pack in runs scored for three of those seasons and only two runs off the lead during the other two. Hurdle also helped guide Larry Walker to the 1997 Most Valuable Player Award. Walker, Vinny Castilla(notes), and Todd Helton(notes) also won Silver Sluggers under his watchful eye.

So the Rangers appear to want a little bit of that magic. First thing they might want to do is find a way to thin out the air at their stadium.

Will be interesting to see if Hurdle has any interest in bringing Milton Bradley(notes) back to the Rangers, which some team execs supposedly would like to do since the Chicago Cubs want to unload him and the Rangers lacked a certain punch without Bradley in the lineup this past season.

There is apparently some belief that this indicates that Mattingly and his current employer, the Los Angeles Dodgers, are formalizing some kind of plan for hitting coach Mattingly to take over for Joe Torre when Torre finally decides to call it quits.

Meanwhile, the Nats apparently want to name a new manager within the week. Interim manager Jim Riggleman is a possibility as well as former Seattle Mariners and Arizona Diamondbacks manager Bob Melvin.

Whatever happens, the coaches have all been promised jobs within the organization for next year.

Bradley was with the team in 2008 when he had a .321 average and led the American League in OPS (on base plus slugging). The loss of Bradley to the Chicago Cubs is part of the reason the Rangers scored 115 fewer runs in 2009 than in 2008.

He's got two more years and about $20 million left on his deal with the Cubs but they want to unload Bradley. Who wouldn't want a guy who injured himself while trying to go after a first baseman after he had gotten on base, confronted a television announcer in the press box for comparing him to Josh Hamilton(notes), and complained of the "negativity" in Chicago.

Sports Illustrated has it that the two sides are planning to meet up soon enough but GM Frank Wren tells MLB.com that no such plans exist.

Other teams supposedly willing to throw a boatload of cash at the 21-year-old lefty Chapman to get him are the Baltimore Orioles, Boston Red Sox, Chicago White Sox, Chicago Cubs, Detroit Tigers, Seattle Mariners. New York Yankees, Oakland Athletics, San Francisco Giants, and St. Louis Cardinals. In short, everybody wants him.

Last night, Victorino let it be known that his team isn't cheating and that Bowa has no idea what he's talking about, according to the New York Post. "I guess he knows something that I don't know about, obviously," Victorino said. "You know, everybody makes excuses. Everybody is going to find a reason. For Bowa to come out and say something like that if he doesn't know what he's talking about, if he doesn't have cold, hard facts, he shouldn't say something like that.

The New York Mets actually had the sneaking suspicion that the team was stealing signs back in 2007 and even using a video camera in center field to do so. The Mets went so far as to ask the league to investigate, which ended up going nowhere.

Plus, if the team was cheating and stealing signs, they sure aren't doing a good job of using the info. As Victorino points out, it didn't exactly help them win Games 3 or 4.

"I think some people on the management side have done a pretty good job of getting out to the public that it's not going to be a strong market," said Weiner. "I think that remains to be seen."

Hmmm. Maybe it's America's recent economic woes that might help keep prices low and the fact that such big-name free agents such as last winter's C.C. Sabathia(notes) and Mark Teixeira(notes) aren't available this off-season.

Other things that will be on his mind include having a shortened schedule and changing things to have day games played when teams are about to travel.